The Bears Are Roaring (Blog Reactions to Louisiana Tech)

Bear Talk: One thing is for certain: The offensive line continues to do the job. Yes, there were a few false start penalties, but the line provided running room for Justin Forsett and gave quarterback Nate Longshore time to throw. Cal’s O-line has been a strength all season so far.

As a matter of fact, it seems eveyone on Cal’s offense knows how to block. So much is said about the quality of the Bears’ receivers, and usually that’s not even taking blocking into consideration. But these guys do a good job blocking. If you watch the replay of Forsett’s 39-yard touchdown run, you’ll see Lavelle Hawkins and Robert Jordan throwing key blocks down field. And Forsett himself threw a terrific block to get Jahvid Best into the end zone on his 16-yard touchdown catch.

Jason Snell: Several terrible calls from the officials, most stunningly the obvious fumble that was called a fumble on the field, overruled by another official who decided it was an incomplete pass, and then upheld as an incompletion after a review. Guys, the guy took multiple steps and lowered his head while running with the ball. It could not have been incomplete. And yet after looking at the tape, the replay officialy decided he couldn’t overturn the call. Gritting my teeth for another year of bad Pac-10 officiating…

Ken Crawford: In any case, we ended up going into the stadium over an hour before the game, which is bad form with young children. They need to be able to run around as much as possible before being asked to sit in the same spot for 3 1/2 hours with only a couple of short breaks (as an aside, how unfortunate is it that halftime, the best chance for a break, is also the most entertaining part for a toddler because of the band performances?). So to do my best to keep them active, I had them run up and down the steps. When we were at the top, I asked them if they wanted to see over the side and of course they wanted to. I picked them up and looked over the side. What did I see? Well, I saw a perfect spot to heckle the tree-sitters. I mean they couldn’t have been 50 feet away in plain view (because these are the tree houses that are actually at the top of the pines). I didn’t say anything to them but I could have held a conversation with them had I wanted to.

Back at my seat, my uncle and brother and I tried to come up with the best heckles we could if we wanted to go back up there. Here’s a sampling:

(Chainsaw sound… preferably amplified)

TIMBER! (my favorite)

Cut ‘em down!

Hey look, I didn’t know there was a zoo out here!?!

Look, tree monkeys! Ooooo, Ooooo, Ooooo… wanna banana?

Rose Bowl Before I Die: Those that saw UCLA’s face plant against Utah on Saturday know that the end is near for UCLA coach Karl Dorrell. It will take an even bigger miracle than beating USC at season end for him to keep him job. Already the bruin fans are sending emails to the UCLA AD and Chancellor calling for the immediate removal of Karl Dorrell.

So Cal fans, we must take action. Please send letters SUPPORTING Coach Dorrell to the following.

Also, at the Cal-UCLA game please show your support for Coach Dorrell with signs like “Dorrell 4 Life” or “Anyone can lose to Utah with 20 returning starters”. Afterall, we can not rely on UCLA to continue its streak of inept football hirings, forever. That distinction belongs to Stanfurd.

Hydrotech: While I was in the student section, I heard a lot of complaining about how Louisiana Tech was beating us with “the same play” over and over again. Well, I doubt it was the same play over and over again, but what Louisiana Tech did do well is complete passes to the hook area below our linebackers. As our DLine rushes forward, and our LBs drop back into zones, a void is created between the DL and the LBs. Louisiana Tech (as well as an SEC opponent we played this year) dropped passes in that void for what seemed to be all. day. long. Yeah, it kinda sucks. Yeah, it’s kinda frustrating. But remember, that’s Gregory. Bend but don’t break – keep everything in front of us. Love it or hate it, it isn’t that bad of a defensive philosophy. And I use the word “bad” with a touch of sarcasm because it really isn’t a “bad” philsophy at all.

Ragnarok: Sometime during the third quarter, I came to the conclusion that our offense has WAY too many playmakers. Sure, DJax is incredible, but on a night where he was hampered by a sprained thumb and took the end of the game off, Hawkins and Jordan made it hard to miss him. Forsett had another fabulous game, but Best and Montgomery are going to force Tedford to get them touches as well. Simply put, Cal is going to be spreading out the football to too many people this year, and consequently, no one, not Forsett, not Longshore, not even DeSean, will rack up the kind of numbers that Heisman voters look for. Too bad for them.